If it gets implemented, Trai’s new tariff order will cap the monthly cable or DTH bill of television households at Rs 130 (plus taxes) for the first 100 FTA channels.

MUMBAI: At a time when Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is trying to get more transparency in the pay TV ecosystem with its new tariff order, public broadcaster Prasar Bharati’s free-to-air (FTA) platform DD FreeDish is becoming a concern for the TV broadcasters and the distribution industry.

If it gets implemented, Trai’s new tariff order will cap the monthly cable or DTH bill of television households at Rs 130 (plus taxes) for the first 100 FTA channels. However, DD FreeDish is a lifetime free service, which doesn’t have a billing system.

Multiple broadcasters ET spoke with say that DD FreeDish is totally in contrast with Trai’s tariff order and interconnection regulations, and completely un-addressable.

Even Prasar Bharati is not aware of total number of active subscribers on the platform.

“There are various estimates of 22-24 million households using the service. It is impossible to get the exact number as there is no encryption or monthly billing,” a source in Prasar Bharati said.

As per consulting firm EY, the number of DD FreeDish subscribers is expected to reach over 40 million by 2020.

Incidentally, it was the rural reach and growth of DD FreeDish that made broadcast networks like Star India, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Sony Pictures Networks India, Viacom18 and others to launch their FTA channels on the platform in the first place. These networks initially were seeking advertising moolah from clients targeting the middle and lower income viewers.

But now Free-Dish is available across the country and has grown to a size where it may become a threat to the entire value chain.

Most broadcasters have converted their FTA channels into pay in order to create bundles and packages under new tariff regime. Broadcasters fear that this will make availability of these channels on Free-Dish an issue with distribution platforms like cable and DTH players.